labour defiant ‘no' to re-run

LABOUR was holding firm last night as the war of words over vote rigging in the 2004 council elections intensified.

Members of the two opposition political

parties continued to demand a fresh poll after detectives discovered dozens of fraudulent postal votes were cast in Redlands ward last year.

And the Electoral Reform Society said it was "disconcerting" for Redlands voters who knew the poll had not been "entirely above board".

The only way a new ballot can happen is if the three councillors elected - Labour's Riaz Chaudhri, Haji Khan and Peter Kayes - stand down to force a by-election.

Liberal Democrats have intensified calls for a

re-run by launching a petition and have been joined by the Conservatives and Labour's Reading East MP Jane Griffiths.

Meanwhile the Reading Labour Party has attacked the Evening Post over its coverage of the tainted election and demand for the ballot to be re-run in the interests of democracy.

Labour had also suggested opposition parties were split internally over a re-run - only to draw a fierce denial from both the Lib Dem and Tory council leaders Bob Green and Fred Pugh.

Ricky Duveen, who chairs the Greater Reading Liberal Democrats branch, said: "We have started knocking on doors in East Reading asking people their opinion.

"Those who do agree in general have been signing our petition calling for the resignation of the councillors.

"It seems increasingly clear that the three councillors involved are just sitting tight and hoping this will go away.

"We hope a petition will nudge them in the right direction."

Paul Swaddle, Reading East Conservative chairman, said he would like to see the three councillors step down.

He said: "What seems extraordinary to us is that it is not possible to do anything about this within the law - that the only recourse is to call for the councillors' resignation.

"What if the investigation had revealed massive fraud?"

Last week police and council investigators confirmed 44 fraudulent postal votes were cast in last June's election but they could not discover who was responsible. It is not known who the votes went to.

Labour had said Cllrs Green and Pugh had distanced themselves from calls for a re-run of the ballot.

But both leaders angrily rebuffed this yesterday and said Labour had been using them as pawns in the political battle.

Reading Labour Party chairman Stuart Singleton-White labelled the Evening Post "shoddy and disgraceful" as he said the 44 votes would not have affected the outcome.

Mr Singleton-White refused to answer how many fraudulent votes would have been needed to reverse Labour's stance on a re-run.

Alex Folkes, of the Electoral Reform Society, said: "Nevertheless it is disconcerting for people who cannot feel secure in the knowledge that the election was entirely above board.

"As an organisation we do feel that in the interests of democracy it might be better to re-run the election."

Cllrs Kayes and Chaudhri were unavailable for comment.

But Cllr Haji Khan said: "The whole matter has been investigated and it is clear that there is no evidence of any of the councillors doing anything wrong.

"It has been investigated very thoroughly. We have done nothing wrong and so there is no reason to rerun the election."